Why Nigerian Musicians Hardly Hit Their Optimum

It seems like less and less people are succeeding with their music career. Although the word success can mean different things to different people, lots of talented musicians simply are not reaching their full potential. Have you ever seen an act so talented you couldn’t work out why they hadn’t done more? Or seen a band that outshone their mainstream alternatives yet haven’t been swooped up by a label?

These days in Nigeria, we seem to have a number of people succeeding with their music career. Within the past three years, we can roll out a pretty decent list of music acts who have hit the big time. They include Adekunle Gold, Runtown, Patoranking, Kiss Daniel, Korede Bello, Reekado Banks, Lil Kesh, and a

Eedris

few others.

But we also do have a lot of others who are son insanely talented that you begin to wonder why they haven’t done more and achieved their potential. We see a shade of these also when an artiste works his heart out, gets the right attention, but fail to find investors. These acts fail to reach their full potential, and it can be frustrating for both the artiste and everyone around them.

There are many reasons why musicians don’t become their best version or quit, but in all of these, one of these reasons overrides all of the others. It is the lack of the right mentality.

By referring to the right and proper mentality, we mean possessing the right focus, drive, and frame of mind to carry out that which you want to achieve. Without those qualities your music simply won’t hit any height. 

If you crave success in music, you need focus and drive. Why do you want to do music? What is the driving force behind your decision to do music? Do you want your music to reap you benefits and dividends? Do you want to be able to make a living from something you enjoy doing rather than working a 9-5? Irrespective of the specific reason, write it down, and remind yourself of it every day. Don’t lose sight of that reason because when you do, you lose your music. As soon as you lose focus of the reason why you do music in the first place, you drive will begin to fade. This is why many people end up quitting before they have seen real results. Remember, when embarking on a music career you won’t see instant success. It’s not a get rich quick scheme, and it takes much work and dedication. There are many platforms for learning about the music business, (Pulse included), but even then you need to retain the drive to keep pushing yourself till you start seeing results.

After understanding and holding on to the reason why you are in music, and become determined to achieve your aim, you need to arm yourself with the right mentality to actually execute what you need to do. Believe it or not, many musicians know exactly what they need to do to achieve things, yet they don’t do it. And this is not exclusive to those in music; this is a trait a lot of people have when it comes to all different things. 

Music can be a full time job, but not everyone may afford the time to throw into it. Therefore, when you do have time, you need to put it to best use. It’s pretty easy to simply chill at home, smoke weed, have mind-blowing sex, and find new ways to entertain yourself and reject the chance to work at your craft. But this is not going to help your music. To grow your work, you need to push yourself and just do things, even if you can’t be bothered at the time. Eventually, you will get into a routine, and your muscle memory will make things effortless. Get your ass of that chair and put in the hours, or nothing will become of you and your talent.